The present invention relates to a device for fixing, earthing and sealing the end or the unsupported part of a cable comprising at least one optical module, consisting of one optical fibre or a set of optical fibres which are independent or joined together into a ribbon, this device including an outer protective jacket inside which is arranged at least one reinforcing element intended, in particular, to prevent forces exerted on the cable from being transmitted to the optical module lying inside the jacket.
In current conventional solutions for cables of this kind, the optical fibres are more generally arranged directly in the central part of the sheath which is in the form of a reinforced tube or else in adjacent parallel passages, but inside the jacket.
The reinforcements, metallic or non-metallic, are preferably diametrically opposed and incorporated in the jacket while it is being manufactured by extrusion.
In particular, although not exclusively, these reinforcements may consist of steel strands which, although they have a high mechanical strength, are not sealed along their longitudinal direction, in such a way that, at the end of the cable where the optical fibres of the module or modules contained in the jacket may be joined together by appropriate splices to one or more application devices, or another cable (in the case of the in-line connection of two ends of cables), or else in the unsupported part of this cable in a stripped region thereof after removing a portion of the jacket in order to allow access to the optical module and to make a T-connection on one or more fibres thereof without cutting the remaining fibres, external moisture can travel along these strands, which has serious drawbacks.
Applying a material in the form of a gel around the reinforcements in the regions where the jacket is stripped may, at least in part, prevent this drawback but it runs the risk of contaminating the case or other connection member containing the splices for linking the optical fibres.
Moreover, in conventional solutions, on the end of a cable or in an intermediate region thereof, it is necessary to fasten this cable securely, in particular by suitably anchoring its reinforcements, further providing effective earthing when the latter are metallic.
However, in the known arrangements, commonly used in practice today, the fastening techniques employed do not allow immobilization of the reinforcements in the longitudinal direction of the cable, along the natural extension of these reinforcements, but use laterally offset locking means, which generally leads to a phenomenon of twisting and/or curvature of the jacket and the reinforcements, and may even cause this jacket to be cut, thereby creating stresses on the optical fibres themselves, above all if the reinforcements are forced to cross with respect to the exit axis of the optical fibres.